Carol Ann Litster and Dr. Erin Feinauer Whiting, Teacher Education

The purpose of this study was to understand the tensions Latino students feel in understanding their ethnic and academic identity and what motivates these students to do well in school. Using Latinos in Action as a case study, we uncover tensions for high school students’ identity development in the context as a minority ethnic group in a white community. Programs that foster both academic and ethnic identity exploration such as Latinos in Action permit students the opportunity to have a safe place to explore their student identity. Through comprehending their situation, in their own words, we uncover their motivations, perceptions, and hopes.

Latinos in Action is a program where Latino high school students tutor elementary and junior high Latino students, in hopes of building leaders, stronger connections to school, and encouraging service learning behaviors. This is not a resource, peer intervention program. Rather, these are the star Latino students in the school, picked for their GPA and leadership abilities. The majority of students were placed in the class, while some students voluntarily applied to the program. In addition to tutoring methods, students are also instructed in resources for college preparation, assisting in navigating the process of college applications. Implemented in several schools in the area, this service organization permits the recognition of the good Latino students in the school. It also allows elementary school students to see their possibilities as a good student; rather than harboring conflicting identities and dropping out of school, these students see their futures dependent on how hard they work in school. Seeing school as legitimate means for success, and the positive influence for good in the elementary and junior high schools, Latinos in Action provides possibilities and perspective for success in the educational system. Many of the Latinos in Action students are first generation immigrants, moving to the United States in elementary school. With this relatively recent shift, the students are negotiating their old country and life within the new country. The new immigration also promotes positive attitudes toward school, viewing education as a way to advance in this country.

Through mixed research methods of qualitative and quantitative, this research study was conducted with observation, formal and informal interviewing, and a student survey. Beginning with observation and gathering programmatic information, weekly interaction including spending time with the students in class and attending out of class activities for five months. This extensive time permitted understanding the students’ experiences more fully.

Using Nvivo, a qualitative research software, to find emerging themes and relationships with the interviews and observations regarding academic and ethnic identity facilitated the data analysis in this ethnographic work. Researchers also used Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) in organizing the survey information. Combining these qualitative and quantitative programs permits the synthesis of the multiple sources in creating a more complete study with the students’ experiences. When possible, researchers will take coded analysis back for verification and input from the interviewed teachers and students.

After coding and analyzing the transcribed interviews and using information from the student survey, school success seems to be centered around two factors. To succeed in school, students either had strong motivations from family to succeed or had a strong motivation from friends to succeed.

While the majority of students had strong relationships with their families, those who did not had friends who were also successful in school. Another important factor to keep in mind is the first generation immigrant status for all students. As first generation students, they had more motivations to do well in school, seeing the sacrifice of their parents. Our findings are also intertwined in the stories these students told. Their unique experience reflects the variety of circumstances Latino students come to school with. We are continuing to explore the data and finding more conclusions and directions for our research.

I am pleased with how the research turned out. The process has allowed me to understand the nature of ethnographic research and has helped me in creating relevant application with my two majors, Sociology and Social Sciences Teaching. I am currently teaching at a high school with a twenty percent Latino population, and my extensive research and spending time with Latino students last Winter and Spring semesters permitted me more ease and understanding in teaching these diverse students. A failure with the research from the proposed ORCA project is the follow up with a sample of students in the fall. The largest reason why this did not happen was the nature of the teaching internship I am completing. Problems that arose include finding time for interviewing as the school year for the students drew to a close, but I was able to interview eleven of the students and three teachers. The school had the class two to three times a week, and with the high school students mentoring at several elementary schools, I was not able to get to every school with every student, but had the opportunity to gain an understanding of most of the students’ experiences in the program as well as their academic and ethnic lives. The research is not completely finished as I am still creating and analyzing the themes in the interviews and working on a paper to publish in a journal.

This work has been presented at the Intermountain Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (I-TESOL) Conference October 10, 2009 at Brigham Young University. It has also been accepted into the poster session of the Pacific Sociological Association (PSA) Conference April 8-11, 2010 in Oakland, California.